A computer network is a collection of interconnected computing devices that can exchange data and share resources. In a packet-based network, such as an Ethernet network, the computing devices communicate data by dividing the data into small blocks called packets, which are individually routed across the network from a source device to a destination device. A variety of intermediate devices operate to route the packets between the computing devices. For example, a computer network may include routers, switches, gateways, firewalls, and a variety of other devices to provide and facilitate network communication.
These network devices typically include mechanisms, such as management interfaces, for locally or remotely configuring the devices. By interacting with the management interface, various clients, such as human users, automated scripts or network management systems, can perform configuration tasks as well as collect and view operational data of the managed devices. For example, the clients may configure interface cards of the device, adjust parameters for supported network protocols, specify physical components within the device, modify routing information maintained by a router, access software modules and other resources residing on the device, and perform other configuration tasks. In addition, the clients may receive information either by polling the managed device or by receiving asynchronous events from the devices. In this way, the management interfaces of the managed device may be used to access current operating parameters, system logs, information related to network connectivity, network activity or other status information for the devices, allowing clients to view and react to event information received from the devices.
Network configuration services may be performed by multiple distinct devices, such as routers with service cards and/or dedicated service devices. Such services include connectivity services such as Layer Three Virtual Private Network (L3VPN), Virtual Private Local Area Network Service (VPLS), and Peer to Peer (P2P) services. Other services include network configuration services, such as Dot1q VLAN Service. Modern network management systems allow the users to create custom service models in real-time or near real-time (or, in other words, “on the fly”). However, these systems do not consider the existing configurations of the network devices.